Organizational Performance
Organizations require leaders that possess a human-centered ability to make careful judgments in decisions, resulting in prompt and effective actions that benefit individuals and enhance organizational results.
Therefore, organizational leaders should actively seek out tools to help cultivate cooperation, encourage transparent communication, and incentivize teamwork. Additionally, it is imperative for organizational leaders to improve communication with their teams.
Thus, leaders today must effectively use best practices to ensure that organizational appraisals, performance reviews, data and ethical issues are handled in a way which yields unbiased and valid reliable information. In doing so, positive organizational performance outcomes will increase.
Measure Human Performance & Increase Organizational Performance
It is critical that leaders know how to measure human performance in order to boost organizational performance. Measuring human performance in organizations is important because it allows leaders to avoid the mismatch problem. The mismatch problem occurs when organizations make mispredictions related to job performance of individuals when using assessments. It is extremely important that organizations who are measuring human performance understand that participants of assessments may perform in a way which is enormously variable (The New Yorker, 2014). One way that leaders can measure human performance to fully assess someone is to use the whole-person approach (Testing and Assessment: An Employer's Guide to Good Practices, 1999). When human performance is measured with the correct approach it can help with important functions ranging from: assigning people to the appropriate job level, identifying and hiring the best people for the job, identifying managerial potential, and also help determine whether some employees are actually benefiting from job training programs (Testing and Assessment: An Employer's Guide to Good Practices, 1999). It is also worth noting that the criterion being used in measuring human performance is also important, because using the correct criterion in assessments such as how productive someone is or their job performance, can be used to help identify the correct assessment tools (Testing and Assessment: An Employer's Guide to Good Practices, 1999, p. 1 -4). Therefore, the importance of measuring human performance is determined by the validity of the assessment; since assessments which are variable will be poor predictors of job performance (The New Yorker, 2014).
References
Binning, J. F. (2016, February 22). Construct. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/construct
Testing and Assessment: An Employer's Guide to Good Practices. (1999). United States: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy and Research.
The New Yorker. (2014, July 22). Malcolm Gladwell on the Challenge of Hiring in the Modern World | The New Yorker [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLQC3EzDGr4&t=144s
Click to view in Microsoft Powerpoint:
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(or view the content in the Youtube videos below)
Track KPIs
Utilizing KPIs is another way in which organizational performance can be improved. In the case of healthcare, leaders should pay attention to various key performance indicators (KPIs) to gain a comprehensive understanding of the organization's overall performance. These key performance indicators encompass a wide range of metrics, including sales, earnings, new client acquisition, and even stock price. Key performance indicators are essential for evaluating the overall condition of a business, as they offer a comprehensive analysis of the company's financial well-being. By considering key performance indicators (KPIs) like sales and profit, organizational leaders can evaluate and appraise the company's capacity to expand its base or maintain competitiveness against other industry leaders (Colquitt et al., 2021). Moreover, the stock price serves as a crucial gauge of shareholders' confidence in the organization's prospects. Collectively, each of these Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) offer substantial insights that a leader must analyze to gain a comprehensive understanding of the organization's capacity to achieve success. Therefore, measuring and tracking human performance is crucial. Organizational leaders equipped to successfully track and assist diverse teams will have improved organizational health.
Reference
Colquitt, J., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2021). Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace.
McGraw-Hill Education.
Ask: Is the assessment valid?
Organizations today can determine the validity of the assessment by determining if the assessment follows guidelines such as:
- The test measures consistently or reliably.
- The test measures what it claims to measure.
- The test is relevant to the job.
- The test helps leaders make more effective employment choices.
(Testing and Assessment: An Employer's Guide to Good Practices, 1999).
An employment test that follows the previously stated guidelines is a good test. Furthermore, the reliability of a test can be measured using reliability estimates such as: Test-retest reliability, Parallel-form reliability, Inter-rater reliability, or Internal consistency reliability (Testing and Assessment: An Employer's Guide to Good Practices, 1999, p. 3-4). Each of these can help determine the source of possible measurement errors. Furthermore, organizations can also use the correct constructs, which are “...[tools] used to facilitate understanding of human behavior” to help them choose reliable data instruments that will indicate more valid assessment results (Binning, 2016). Leaders can increase the validity and reliability of assessments administered by using a checklist and also administering assessment instruments properly (Testing and Assessment: An Employer's Guide to Good Practices, 1999).
To improve Organizational Performance, Offer Support
Organizational leaders can further support their team members by providing stress management resources, such as EAPs (employee assistance programs). This will aid leaders in establishing a harmonious equilibrium between work and personal life for employees, hence reducing the likelihood of unproductive behaviors resulting from unaddressed stress levels. Moreover, by allocating resources to provide training opportunities for employees, the leader can facilitate the alignment of team members with the organization's core values, mission statement, and objectives. The end result will be increased Organizational performance.
References
Aileron. (2017, June 26). 4 Secrets To Hiring The Right People. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/aileron/2017/06/26/4-secrets-to-hiring-the-right-people/?sh=40960a1058af
Bika, N. (2020, August 11). Pre-employment testing: a selection of popular tests. Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better. https://resources.workable.com/tutorial/pre-employment-tests#
SHRM Toolkit. (2019, December 10). Interviewing Candidates for Employment. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/Pages/interviewingcandidatesforemployment.aspx
Society for Human Resource Management. (2016, July 12). A Guide to Conducting Behavioral Interviews with Mid-career Job Candidates. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/LearningAndCareer/learning/Documents/Behavioral%20Interviewing%20Guide%20for%20Early%20Career%20Candidates.pdf
Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. (2019, October 10). Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology > Business Resources > Employment Testing > Test Types. SIOP. https://www.siop.org/Business-Resources/Employment-Testing/Test-Types
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. (n.d.). Employment Aptitude Tests, Employee Aptitude Test | Criteria Corp. Criteria. https://www.criteriacorp.com/assessments/cognitive-aptitude-tests
Increase Organizational Performance by Implementing Best Practices During Candidate Selection
When selecting new employees leaders should make sure that everyone they interview is assessed fairly and in a respectful manner (Aileron, 2017). It would be best practice for employers to also incorporate an aptitude test that would measure criterion such as problem solving, critical thinking skills, and a candidate's ability to implement new information (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, n.d.). However, there are other selection procedures that are also heavily recommended in the selection of new hires. Employers who wish to evaluate candidates for technical or professional expertise should implement a job knowledge test. Implementation of this test will give employers an idea of how much work related experience a candidate already has. It would also be best practice to implement an integrity test so that the employer makes a hiring decision based on who will be reliable, dependable, honest, and demonstrates prosocial behavior (Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2019). Additionally, the best practices when conducting interviews with potential employees include: preparing for the interview in advance to ensure the validity, avoiding questions related to a candidate’s age, sex, race, religion or disabilities, and listening to the candidate’s full answer before moving on to the next question (SHRM Toolkit, 2019). Furthermore, it is best practice for all employers to understand that cognitive ability tests are vulnerable to racial and ethical differences (Bika, 2019). Current organizations which do not implement these critical best practices are not only violating the law but are also hurting their organization by limiting their ability to hire diversely. Furthermore, a diverse organization will have better performance outcomes than a nondiverse one.
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